The Lion

Details

Running Time: 80 minutes with no intermission

Special Events

$5 Night - Wednesday, August 26, 7:30 pm

Ask the Artists - Thursday, August 27, September 3, 10, 17

Opening Night - Saturday, August 29, 8:00 pm

Wine Down Sunday - Sunday, August 30, 7:00 pm

Lowell Night - Wednedsay, September 2, 7:30 pm

Ladies Night - Thursday, September 10, 7:30 pm

Creative Team

Benjamin Scheuer (Writer & Performer)

Benjamin is the recipient of the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a 2015 Theatre World Award for Exceptional Off-Broadway Debut, as well as a nominee for two Outer Critic Circle Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, and an additional Drama Desk for Outstanding Lyrics.

THE LION premiered off-Broadway in June 2014 at Manhattan Theatre Club and later returned to NYC in a commercial run at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre. Scheuer has performed the show at the St. James Theatre in London, where it won the 2014 Off West-End Award for Best New Musical. THE LION has since been touring the United States, including a recent sold-out run at Portland Center Stage. The show will be seen at venues such as Merrimack Repertory, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and Arena Stage, throughout the 2015-2016 Season.

The animated music videos for Scheuer’s songs “The Lion” and “Cookie-tin Banjo” have won prizes at the Annecy Film Festival, The Crystal Palace Festival, and the British Animation Awards (director/animator Peter Baynton). With photographer Riya Lerner, Scheuer is co-creator of the book “Between Two Spaces,” from which 50% of proceeds go to the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. www.BetweenTwoSpaces.com

Scheuer has toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter, and has performed at venues including Lincoln Center in New York and the Royal Albert Hall in London. He records and performs with his band Escapist Papers, whose second album, “The Bridge” (produced by Geoff Kraly), was released in 2014. Scheuer is currently at work on an album called “Songs from THE LION.”

He has been a writer-in-residence at the Goodspeed Theatre, the Weston Playhouse, and the Johnny Mercer Songwriting Workshop. He has been commissioned to write a new show by Williamstown Theatre Festival. Additional Awards include the 2013 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award for songwriting and the 2013 Musical Theatre Network Award for Best Lyrics.

Sean Daniels (Director)

Sean has directed at Manhattan Theatre Club (NYC), Lynn Redgrave (NYC) The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), St. James (West End, London), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Center Stage, Geva Theatre, Playmakers Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, California Shakespeare, Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, Swine Palace, Neo-Futurists, Aurora Theatre, Crowded Fire and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

His direction and shows have won: "Best New Musical" in London, The Drama Desk Award in NYC, & "Best Play” and “Best Director” in the Bay Area, Rochester and Atlanta. His shows have also been nominated for the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Award in NYC. Sean has been named “one of the top fifteen up & coming artists in the U.S., whose work will be transforming America’s stages for decades to come” & “One Of 7 People Reshaping And Revitalizing The American Musical” by American Theatre magazine.

He is the Artistic Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre. He's previously served as the Artist-At-Large for Geva Theatre Center and spent four years at the Tony Award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville as the theatre’s Associate Artistic Director (where he directed 17 productions including five Humana Festivals). Mr. Daniels is the former Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director of the California Shakespeare Theater and before that spent a decade as the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Dad’s Garage Theater Company in Atlanta.

Reviews

Local Reviews

Lowell Sun: But it's more than the actor's good looks and personality that make "The Lion" one of the best theater experiences you're going to have this year.

Jared Bowen, WGBH Arts Editor: "His story is so unbelievably resonant, so emotionally rich. … It surpassed all expectations."

Boston Globe: "Scheuer winningly shows he can pluck the audience’s heartstrings as skillfully as he does his guitar."

Nashua Telegraph: There is nothing more beautiful than when someone is their authentic, naked self. And Scheuer’s talents as a musician and storyteller are brilliant. Do not miss “The Lion.” Go and fall in love with Ben yourself.

Onstage: "This 80 minute musical experience is one of the best I have ever had and I highly recommend attending a performance of 'The Lion'. It is nourishment for your soul and you will leave feeling inspired and very likely changed."

On Boston Stages: “…an emotional, powerful, funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive tale of one man’s journey.”

Talkin' Broadway: "Scheuer's autobiographical story is honest and compelling, he is a terrific musician and charming performer, and the lessons he shares are uplifting."

Theatre Mirror: “Sunday’s audience was rapt - and charmed - by Scheuer’s boyish good looks, infectious smile, amazing musical ability, and buoyant optimism. “

New England Theatre Geek: "What I was shocked at was how such a personal story...could feel relatable, like coming home to family. I may not have ever seen a lion up close and personal, but I imagine the strength Benjamin exhibited on stage is as magnificent and breathtaking as the African cat."

Awards

The Offies (London): WIN Best New Musical

Drama Desk Awards: WIN Outstanding Solo Performance; NOMINATION Best Lyrics

Theatre World Award: WIN Outstanding Debut Performance

Outer Critics Circle Awards: NOMINATIONS: Outstanding Solo Performance; John Gassner Award (presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)

Lucille Lortel Awards: NOMINATION Outstanding Solo Show

New York & London Reviews

New York Times review: “Only the hardest heart could resist”

Huffington Post review: “The best musical I’ve seen this year.”

The Stage (London) review: “Absolutely the best original musical of the year so far, on either side of the Atlantic...I doubt I'll see another show this year so poignant, so personal, so heartfelt, so sincere and so simply staged as ‘The Lion’ - a masterpiece.”

Huffinton Post article: "The magic of 'The Lion' is that it is real, intimate and wonderfully moving with simplicity and without traditional theatricality."